SAN FRANCISCO — Peyton Manning at 39 years old is not what he once was.
Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason looks at Manning and sees a hefty major league baseball pitcher.
“They’re playing their best football at the right time, it’s going to be really hard to beat them,’’ Esiason said Monday, speaking of the Panthers at a CBS Sports media availability. “Especially with a 39-year old quarterback who’s really doing it with — he’s the Bartolo Colon of the NFL. You know what I’m saying?’’
Peyton Manning has never before been linked to Colon, the portly (that’s being kind) 42-year-old Mets pitcher who stands 5-foot-11 and is listed at 283 pounds. Manning is tall (6-5) and statuesque (230 pounds), but there are some similarities to the hefty hurler.
“[Manning] is in much better shape than Bartolo, but he’s learned how to throw junk,’’ Esiason said. “He’s learned how make the right calls at the line of scrimmage. He’s learned how to deal with all the different situations because of up here [points to his head] he’s so much sharper than everybody else on the field. So God bless him.’’
Esiason does not think Manning’s experience gives him any advantage in Super Bowl 50 against his much younger counterpart, Cam Newton.
“If Peyton were 27, I’d say yeah, but he’s gonna be 40 and he’s playing against an awesome defense, 39 turnovers in the regular season, plus 20 differential turnover ratio,’’ Esiasion said. “He’s got a lot of heavy lifting. And this is not the Peyton Manning offense. This is the Gary Kubiak offense that we saw in Houston. This is the Gary Kubiak offense that John Elway won a couple of Super Bowls with. So you have a 39-year old legacy-living quarterback, if you will, going against a top-notch defense.
“I hope Peyton can keep it close. I hope he can outthink [Panthers linebacker] Luke Kuechly, that’s the rub within the game. Who’s running what plays and what defense and how are you going to go back and forth with each other. I just hope it doesn’t turn into Super Bowl 48 [a 43-8 Seahawks rout of Manning’s Broncos]. That would be my fear here.’’